


The Tyrolean CEO's Virgin Secretary

by fresne



Series: Corner of 1st and Myth [7]
Category: Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Disabled Character, F/M, Gender Reversal, Harlequin, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mills and Boon, Parents Eaten by Wolves, Power Inequity, Romance, Sex Under the Influcence of Alcohol, Yuletide 2012, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-21 21:59:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fresne/pseuds/fresne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From secretary - to kept man!</p><p>Hunt Zmenn had worked as Snow White's personal secretary at the Tyrolean Mining Corporation for three years. For three years, he'd kept the secret of his love! After all, Snow White was a wealthy CEO and he was just a secretary raised in an orphanage after his parents were eaten by wolves!</p><p>When Ms. White's fiance, Mr. Charming, left her for another woman, they ended up making love in the office! </p><p>Soon, he and Snow had more than just a working relationship. Where once Snow was happy to have Hunt safely behind his desk, now Snow wanted him across hers - passionate and willing.</p><p>Could Hunt surrender to Snow's erotic program and not lose himself to a whirl of desire? Could he find a way to pencil in love to Snow's agenda?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [loathlylady](https://archiveofourown.org/users/loathlylady/gifts).



> Loathlylady - This is a quick treat that errr... just kept going. Re: your overall request, hopefully not too much sex. Hmm... well, probably too late for that, but at least hopefully, not too explicit. I tried to keep it at the Harlequin level. If it is too much of the underwear drawer - sorry - I reread the CEO/Secretary Harlequins on my shelf and this was what came out.
> 
>  
> 
> The following inspiration for this work and inspiration for my dialogue, where I am not directly quoting, because apt quotes are cool:  
>  "The Boss's Baby", "At Her Boss's Bidding", "The Parisian Playboy"   
> err... you can figure out who wrote what. I'm not sure I have them anymore.
> 
>  
> 
> Warnings for childhood trauma of the orphaned due to wolves, Evil orphanage with evil headmaster / hot lead shoes, etc. variety  
> Not even sure how to tag/warn it, but Hunt is briefly sexually harassed in the copyroom before that character gets the Snow delivered smackdown. And, of course, the inherent issues with the CEO/Secretary-direct employee scenario.

By the night of the third annual Tyrolean Kinder Charity Auction ball, Hunt Zmenn had been Snow White's personal secretary at the Tyrolean Mining Corporation for three years, five months and three days. 

By the night of the third annual Tyrolean Kinder Charity Auction ball, he'd been in love with Snow White for three years, five months and eight days. 

That made it sound like he'd fallen in love like a sudden trip of the cobblestones into the Wishing well in the town square.

But he wasn't so green. 

Not with his parents eaten by wolves and growing up in the Kinderhaus orphanage, or as those who grew up within those white sterile walls, Purgatory. It might have been called Hell, but as his best friend, Lil' Red, pointed out, "Hell's permanent. Purgatory, that's got an end date to it. Now, moment I'm eighteen, I'm outa here like liver from a duck's ass. Open myself one of those burl wood shops by the side of the road and sell crap to people who don't need it." She'd belly laugh when she said that.

Lil' Red had made Kinderhaus bearable. She'd protected him when she could, but he still bore the scars. The thin marks on his back where Mr. Myrsina's belt had fallen. The burns on his feet from where he'd been made to wear the hot lead shoes when he'd done something that Mr. Myrsina deemed unseemly. 

He never knew why, but Hunt had often been unseemly.

The shoes were why he worked an indoor job instead of in the great green woods that surrounded the town like he'd dreamed as a boy. Far away from having to deal with people on a daily basis. The burns those shoes left behind were why he walked with a slight limp. They were the reason he joined Tyrolean Mining's secretarial pool a week before he turned eighteen.

So, no. He hadn't ever been that green. He knew the world was too unsafe to trust. It took at least an hour to fall. Stripping away his defenses as he tumbled.

When Snow White had joined Tyrolean Mining as the new CEO, the gossip had it that she'd only been appointed CEO on account of "special favors" that she'd done for the Board of Seven Dwarves. Darlene had winked at the other secretaries. "Way I hear it, the Frost giantess made all their beds in one night." 

Meryl had laughed. "If she did that explains things. Snapped their jiggly bits right off and held them hostage." The open plan room buzzed with laughing suggestions for the rest of their break.

Hunt had laughed with everyone else as if he knew what they were talking about. He knew to blend in, it was important to laugh.

But the truth was that growing up as he had, he'd never dated much. Oh, everyone thought that he and Lil' Red were an item. But ever since the day she'd shown up at Kinderhaus after her gran had been eaten by a wolf, they had been siblings from another mother. Anyway, she wanted someone who would kick her ass from time to time. They both knew that couldn't be him.

He'd always felt awkward about his looks. His lips were too full and red. His eyes were a weird purple color with thick curling eyelashes. He couldn't count the number of whippings he'd taken from Mr. Myrsina for looking at him with his evil eyes. His hair was this horrible curling white blonde. His skin marked him as different from the rest of the town. It would have been one thing to look as he did if he worked outside, but no matter how many hours he spent under the fluorescent office lights, he remained a dark bronze. 

Even his body made him feel awkward and clumsy. A growth spurt in eighth grade had him going from the smallest kid in class to towering over his classmates at six foot three. While his hobby carving figures out of wood with an axe had him filling out in the chest and arms. It was hard to fade into the wall looking so ridiculous. At work, he wore baggy second hand suits that hid his body. He slouched. He wore glasses with clear lenses. He faded into the woodwork as much as he could.

So, no, he'd never dated much, or really at all.

Despite that, some executives at Tyrolean Mining thought that the secretarial pool meant dating pool. 

Mr. Piper was a particular problem for the entire secretarial staff. Or he had been.

The day Hunt met Snow White, he'd been in the copy room. By room they meant closet with a copier in it. He'd been trying to finish compiling the Red Carbuncle presentation for the Sinbad Inc. bid for the next day. Of course, the copier decided to compile the pages in completely the wrong order. He hated the copy room. He always felt clumsy and trapped when he went there.

Mr. Piper came into the copy room, as if he ever made a photocopy in his life. "Why look if it isn't my favorite member of the secretarial pool." He stood up on his toes to brush a strand of hair behind Hunt's ear. "God, your mouth. Has anyone told you what kind of mouth you've got?"

"Sir." Hunt pressed back against the wall leaning away from the slighter man. "I need to finish these copies." He felt panic rising like a balloon in his throat with no easy exit. 

"All work and no play makes Hunt a dull boy." Mr. Piper moved closer blocking Hunt's escape route. "I've been thinking of requesting you as my personal secretary." He licked his lips. 

Hunt flinched back. He fussed with his glasses.

"Mr. Piper. This is the third time that you've been warned about this type of behavior." A voice as cold as a winter's gale cracked across the tiny room. Frost puffed and crackled across the floor and walls. He'd only seen her at the all company meeting, but there was no mistaking Snow White. 

Her lips as red as blood were twisted in anger. Her face as white as snow was stern. Her hair as black as coal was screwed tight into a bun. She wore a sharp black suit with a high necked red blouse. Her eyes were sharp as shards of ice that had broken off a roof. "Now that I am running Tyrolean, we operate with a zero harassment tolerance." She turned to Hunt. She looked him in the eyes. She was taller than he was. By at least six or seven inches. He had to look up at her. It made him feel strangely warm and fluttery inside. He felt pinned by that gaze. Finally she said, "If you would like to file a complaint against this man, I will go with you right now to HR."

His eyes darted to Mr. Piper, who had been with the company since dinosaurs literally roamed the earth. His father, Mr. Pied Piper, had been the one to invent the tune that caused the prehistoric menaces to walk in a long line and march into the river. The Piper family had been an untouchable fixture ever since.

"Don't look at him. Look at me." Snow White's voice was firm. He couldn't help, but give himself over to the assurance in that cool voice. "Do you want to file a complaint?"

Hunt felt a sharp pang for the times that he'd joined in the laughter at Snow White's expense. He knew in that instant that she'd never gotten where she was by doing whatever it was they all thought she did. He swallowed and nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

She nodded briskly. He followed her out into the hallway, leaving Mr. Piper sputtering behind.

As they walked down the hall, or rather she strode and he limped, he had to call out, "Ma'am, please. I can't walk that fast." His cheeks flushed. He hated the everyday reminder that compared to everyone else, he was broken.

She turned around and her expression changed. Glaciers melted in an instant. "Oh, I'm so sorry. It's just that you're so," she waved a hand at him, "but that's... I'm sorry. We'll walk slower." As they walked, she asked him if he felt that Tyrolean Mining was, "Sufficiently caring toward the handicapable?"

Since he had no idea what she meant, he could only nod. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Oh, please, Ms. White is bad enough. Call me Snow." She smiled. He heard the bluebirds that sang when a heart was given away singing like happy harbingers of doom.

He ignored them. It took everything he had to not do as she asked. "No, Mrs. White. I don't think I could do that." 

"Of course, whatever makes you feel comfortable." The spring froze back into winter in her expression. 

They went to the HR office and even though she was the CEO, and must be very busy, she entered her own statement regarding his complaint backing him up and encouraging him when he faltered. With Ms. White standing behind him, he felt safe.

Darlene whistled when he came into the secretarial pool office with his stack of copies. "Looks like someone's been warming up the big boss. What did you do, put a heater under the Frost giant? Careful, you might blow a fuse." 

Hunt blushed and ducked his head. 

By the afternoon, it was all over the building that Mr. Piper had been put on unpaid suspension. The other secretaries slapped him on the back, but he was careful to let them all know that it had been Ms. White. 

Within a week, Mr. Piper was no longer working at the company. He was snapped up by the Winter Corporation, which had belonged to Snow's father. She'd lost it as part of some sort of dirty dealing during a merger. Hunt hadn't thought much about it before, but now he felt angry on Ms. White's behalf.

He told Lil' Red everything. He told her about most things.

Lil' Red rearranged a set of wooden wind chimes. "Ah, Honey Bunny, it's just like she just swooped in and saved you." She turned and looked at him. She stared at him for a long time. "You've got a crush on Ms. Ice Queen herself. I suppose it makes sense, being as you are and how you met, but Honey Bunny, that's about a good idea as getting cozy with a glacier."

Hunt paused where he was carving a bear eating a wolf from a piece of redwood. He didn't meet Lil' Red's eyes. "She's not an Ice Queen. She's just very professional. People are mad because she's improving things to make it more efficient."

"Good Lord, you do have a crush. And I'm sorry, but she so is an Ice Queen. She's a Frost giant for Christ's sake. Everyone in town knows that. She doesn't smile when you pass her on the road or in the store. She's doesn't stop to talk down by the Wishing well. Bet she doesn't think she even needs to visit the well. Get frostbite sure as you touch her." Lil' Red gave him a quick pat on the shoulder. "Honey Bunny, you are so totally screwed." 

Hunt remembered the sound of the bluebirds singing. She wasn't wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

He went to the Wishing well. Everyone went to the Wishing well and threw a coin in. He wished for the one he loved to find him. It didn't mean anything. There was a very clear "No interference with free will" clause on the well. 

He was regretting that coin the next Monday when he was assigned to the CEO's office as the Ms. White's personal secretary. He walked carefully into the CEO's inner office. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "They, uh, said I was supposed to come here?"

Snow White nodded briskly. "Yes, I need a new secretary since Mrs. Knight decided that she'd prefer to leave with the previous CEO." She smiled thinly. "When I checked to see who had the highest reviews in the secretarial pool, you were the obvious candidate by a factor of thirteen."

He wanted to hyperventilate, but that didn't seem like it would help. "But I'm not qualified. I only have a high school diploma."

"Nonsense, you have glowing reviews from every executive you've worked with. You appear to work hard and I need someone who'll work hard with me. Serve as my kinder face to the company." She looked him in the eyes. "We grow into our qualifications. I have every confidence that you can do this." With her looking at him, he almost believed it. If she'd asked him to jump into a den of wolves right then, he'd have done it.

Fortunately, she only asked him to compile everything they had on the geothermal imaging of dilithium crystal reserves. 

That night, he called Lil' Red. She came over with a bottle of Asti Spumanti. She took one look at him. "Damn Hunt, you look as nervous as a whore in church. Well, drink up. It's time to celebrate." Unused to alcohol, his second day of work was with a hangover, but his head didn't fall off. Ms. White was very patient with him. It was all to the good.

He felt himself opening up as he worked for her. She always gave very clear instructions on what she wanted. He did his best to follow her instructions precisely. When he did especially well, she'd get a little smile like a ray of sunshine on a snow covered hill and tell him exactly how well he'd done. He could feel himself relaxing when that happened. 

When he didn't do as well, she'd get a little line between her eyes, but even then, she was full of encouragement. There was only a faint frost in the air. Never a full blown storm. 

He did everything he could to get the ray of sunshine. He studied her flurries and her still moments and her cold freezes. With some of the other employees, she might sometimes crackle with ice that spread across the table and floor. When the air in a meeting would dip in temperature, he'd distract her until fairer weather returned.

Soon everyone came to him first before heading on to see her, which worked well, because his desk was in the outer office and it was his job to make sure that she didn't accidentally kill anyone. 

He'd only been working for her for a few months, when he turned nineteen. She took him out to lunch at the restaurant in the Palace Hotel. He'd never been inside. He was almost afraid to sit at the table it was so beautiful and grand. 

She flipped through her menu. "I remember nineteen. Ages ago." She smiled ruefully. "So far my thirties have been better than my twenties ever were, which were a thousand times better than my teens. So, it only gets better." She looked down at her menu. "Please feel free to pick whatever you want on the menu. I know you want to, but don't look at the prices. This is my treat."

He knew what he wanted. He swallowed and tried to decide what he wanted for lunch.

She even gave him a birthday present, an oak cane with a carved handle. He swallowed. "That's my favorite wood." 

She blinked. "You have a favorite wood?"

He ducked his head and wouldn't say anything more, even though she asked.

When she turned thirty-three a few months after that, he couldn't take her out to lunch. But he did carve a small craggy peak smoothed by snow for her. He left it in her office with a wooden card that he bought from Lil' Red's shop.

When he went in later, it was sitting prominently on her desk. Her winter eyes flickered over him. "Is this oak?"

"Yes, Ms. White. I, um, made it." He put his fidgeting hands behind his back and waited for her reaction.

She looked at him then. He felt seen by that look. A small animal held safe in a hollow of snow. "It's quite lovely." She touched a curve on the peak and he bit his lower lip to stay still. "You're an excellent artist as well as a capable secretary."

He mumbled, "Thank you." He went to the bathroom adjoining their offices to put cold water on his face. 

The carving stayed where it was on her desk. The next year, it was joined by an oak eagle. He spent hours on the wings. She praised it and his heart stuttered in his chest. The year after that, he carved the Red dragon from red oak coiled around a lamb from golden oak. She laughed when she saw that one. As her laughter was rare, he stored it up inside him. As he stored the touch of her fingers tenderly touching the carved wool of the lamb.


	3. Chapter 3

Time passed.

Even though they were a listed building, she had an elevator installed for handicapable access. He thought about it whenever he didn't have to painfully climb up and down the flights of stairs.

It wasn't just for him. She did other things. She was fair. She was twice voted the Fairest CEO in the industry.

Sometimes, they worked late, and she'd order dinner for them as they worked on the couch in her office. She always insisted that he take comp time to go enjoy himself with his friends.

He wanted to tell her that other than Lil' Red, she was his friend. He hoped. Of a sort. Maybe.

She'd told him in broad terms about losing her father's company to her stepmother. She smiled a tight cold smile that crackled the windows with frost. "It was a bitter blow." She talked about her dreams for Tyrolean Mining. She talked about previous jobs. About all she'd done to get where she was. She flurried a smile. "Not every man wants to take orders from a woman. Particularly a Frost giant." He smiled back.

Sometimes, when they were taking a break from some late night project and they were seeing by monitor light, he talked about his carvings. It felt safe in the dark. She asked him questions and talked about famous sculptors. Pygmalion, Gepeto, Prometheus. Art. Museums. Places he'd never been or ever thought to go.

She'd smile faintly in that dim light and tell him that he had his whole life ahead of him. Then their break was over. They'd get back to work.

He couldn't change how he felt when she started dating Prince Charming, smarmy, smooth talking bastard. Mr. Charming was the head of his own technology company. He'd made his first billion by the age of twenty-one. He was smart. He was smooth. He was a Frost giant with burning green hair. He made Hunt's skin crawl every time he came into Ms. White's office.

She was remarkably calm about their relationship, but that was Ms. White. She didn't like the office to mix with her personal life.

Even when she showed him her engagement ring, she didn't glow. She deserved to glow. 

She came out to his desk in the outer office. "Good morning, Hunt. I may as well start the rumor mill early. Prince asked me to marry him last night."

He brushed his fingers over his keyboard. "Congratulations, Ms. White."

She drifted the faintest of smiles. A flurry of a smile. "You know one of these days, I'll convince you to call me Snow."

"Yes, Ms. White." He looked at her hands. He looked at the ring and the massive diamond there like a shard of ice.

"Or Mrs. Charming." She sighed. "Although," she trailed off, "Prince thinks that I should slow down. Start a family. As he likes to remind me, my biological clock is ticking away." She looked out the wide windows. "But Father didn't slack off because I was born. I fail to see why I should either." She folded her hands together. The diamond winked in the sunlight through the window. "When you're ready, let's review today's emails."

He finished sorting her emails. He did his work very carefully. Still, Ms. White had to send several reports back to him because of errors, but she was very nice about it. She was always nice. "We all have our off days. I know you never take sick days, but it's fine to admit that you don't feel well once in awhile." 

He mumbled something. She sent him home to get some rest. She was always taking care of him like that.

He went to Lil' Red's for some axe therapy.

Red sighed at his art project, an eagle clawing out the liver of a screaming man, who may have looked like Mr. Charming. "I'm not sure I can sell that one, Honey Bunny. It's kinda dark."

Hunt wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead and swung his axe. "He's no good for her."

"I don't know. Smart. Rich. Gorgeous. Frost giant. Cold. Seems like a perfect match." Lil' Red arranged some wrought iron Kokopelli summoning sigils in the display yard next to the highway.

He glared at her. 

"Yeah, yeah. You think the sun and the moon shines out her ass. But she's out of your league. So, move on. You're a nice guy. Stop dressing like you're eighty. Ditch the glasses that you don't need. There must be some woman out there who'll take you on." She ruffled his hair. 

Hunt didn't say anything. He wasn't smart or rich or gorgeous. He was an orphan found in a tree crying over the bodies of his wolf gnawed parents.

Hunt started a new project. He sliced at the wood that shouldn't be there. When he was done, what remained was Snow White's face. That happened a lot. He took it home with him to join the rest of his collection.

He told himself that he had the most important part of her. He helped her at Tyrolean Mining, which was her life. She took everything at the business personally.

When the Winter Corporation outbid them on a mining contract, he stayed with her late into the night trying to figure out what went wrong. Mr. Charming didn't even call her. 

Sometimes, he could hear them arguing. Mr. Charming yelled. She never did. 

One time after Mr. Charming stormed out, Ms. White came out on the slam of the outer door. Hunt was careful to be very busy looking at his emails. She said, "I suppose you heard that."

"Yes, Ms. White." He filed some more emails.

"I'm sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable." She was standing next to his desk now.

He looked up at her startled. "Oh, no, Ms. White. It's not a problem. I just, he shouldn't speak to you like that." He felt his face grow warm, but he made himself keep looking at her.

She inclined her head. "I'm inclined to agree." She rubbed her face. "Although, as I am the one who had to break our date for this evening, I have the greater share in the blame. Simply what happens when two driven people are involved." She looked at the door. "It will all work itself out. He is an excellent match for me." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself. He hoped.

"Yes, Ms. White." Hunt stared at his computer even after she went back into her office. He got her a cup of coffee the way she liked it. 

When he gave it to her, she forced her lips into a straight line. "Hunt, I've told you don't have to do that." He could tell from that suppressed smile that she was pleased. He allowed himself to watch her sip it for ten seconds and went back to his desk.

He told himself that he had the best part of her.

He told himself that it was enough.


	4. Chapter 4

By the night of the annual Tyrolean Kinder Charity Auction ball, Hunt had been in love with Snow White for three years, five months and eight days. 

For the last three years, Hunt organized the ball. It was Ms. White's idea after he told her about the problems with funding at Kinderhaus. 

Sometimes he felt she did it for him. She didn't, but he felt that way. It meant he had to work with Mr. Myrsina, but he was Ms. White's personal secretary and there was nothing Mr. Myrsina could do to him now. When he became particularly worried during meetings with him, Hunt imagined Snow literally freezing with well chosen words, and he felt better able to deal with him.

Tyrolean Mining, as the oldest company in town, actually had a formal ballroom that had been - built hundreds of years ago for the old dwarf Mining guild - attached to the building. Normally it served as the cafeteria, but on the night of the ball, it was transformed back into its former use.

All the beautiful people in their glittering clothes gathered. They donated things. They bought things. Hunt had carved the Red dragon from redwood. Snow had brushed her hand along its spine. "This one's so lovely, I might have to buy it for my foyer."

His skin tightened to think of something of his in her home. "If you want, I could carve you one, Ms. Snow." He could make her a beautiful dragon with wings protecting a fawn.

She pulled her hand away. "I think that for a piece this large, I should pay you." She folded her hands together. "Now then, how is the guest list coming?" 

The night of the ball came. Hunt clung to his wall in his dullest brown suit.

The thought of watching Ms. White dancing with Mr. Charming was almost too much. The thought of not being there if she needed him for anything at their ball was too much as well.

Mr. Charming was there. He was not dancing with Ms. White. He was dancing with a blonde slip of a girl wearing glass slippers and a dress that floated around her as she spun.

Ms. White was at the bar. She had a whiskey her hand, which wasn't like her at all. She was watching Mr. Charming. As he came closer, he could hear the ice in the glass tinkled softly. "Ms. White? Is there something wrong?"

She chuckled softly like the breeze that comes before an avalanche. "Always so polite." She sipped her drink. Some spilled down the front of her high necked black dress. The liquid sparkled on the fabric and froze there. "You could say that." She gestured at the dance floor. "Prince and I have come to a parting of the ways. Hmmm...this calls for champagne. I want to celebrate with my polite secretary." 

Sophia Margaretha, who was tending bar, looked at Hunt. He shrugged helplessly and took a long narrow glass. Ms. White toasted him and waited until he drank from it before she drank deeply from her own. Ice crystals formed on her glass in branching patterns. "It seems Prince and I want different things." She looked into her glass. "He wants a hausfrau, who'll be waiting for him when he gets home with his pipe and slippers. While I," she raised for another toast. "I want loyalty." She looked at him. "You're loyal. Aren't you Hunt?"

Her cool snow cliff face seemed about to start that avalanche. "Ms. White, let's go someplace quiet." 

Another breeze chuckle. "That's my loyal secretary. Getting me away from the people before I freeze the room." She let him pull her away from the bar. Only pausing to grab two bottles of champagne.

Not knowing where else to go, he took her up to her office. On the way, she toasted loyalty. She toasted Tyrolean Mining. She drank without toasting. She filled his glass. He didn't quite know what to do. He drank.

As they arrived, he locked the outer door. He didn't want anyone to see her like this. She went into her office and collapsed on the soft couch by the window where they'd so often worked long into the night. "You know what he told me? Know what he did?" She was whispering now. He sat down next to her. The lights from the parking lot cast yellow lines across the room.

"He told me that he needed a real woman, not a Frost giant. He told me that he was dumping me for Cinderella. He met her yesterday. She wants to stay at home and make babies." She rubbed her face, spilling champagne. She refilled both their glasses. "Don't make me drink alone, Hunt. My loyal Hunt." They drank champagne. 

Hunt felt warm. He loosened his tie. He kicked off his shoes. He didn't know if this was what drunk was. It was wonderful. He rested his head on the couch to listen to Ms. White.

She poured them another round. "The very worst of it is I'm not even upset about Cinderella. I can only pity her. You remember when Winter Corporation outbid us on that mining contract." She clinked her glass against his. "He sold me out to my stepmother. He wanted me to fail so badly, I'd have to quit. He told me if I thought my company was so important, maybe I should go to bed with it. Cold comfort. Cold as I am. He's been passing the latest gem surveys to stepmommy dearest. Every time he was pissed because I had to miss a date to work, any time we argued, he'd meet with her. I've been working my ass off and he's been selling me out to the enemy." She knocked back another swallow. "And, they've been having sex. He told me that she at least wasn't like going to bed with a snow drift." 

He shook his head against the back of the couch. "A man would have to be a fool to want someone other than you." He couldn't bring himself to say Ms. White. Not right then. Not in the dark warm place he was in.

She leaned forward. "So, sweet." She plucked off his glasses. He heard them thud on the floor. Her face was inches from his. Her breath smelled like the forest. Her lips as red as blood tasted like smoke and pitch and pine. They were soft on his. Her hands were on his chest working the buttons free. It was a dream. A nowhere time of lips moving against each other as her hands pulled away his clothes. She straddled him. "Prince said I was cold. Is this cold?" He groaned and shifted beneath her. "You don't think so, do you."

"No." He looked up at her trying for some last moment of sobriety. "You've just broken up with your fiancee. You've been drinking. And I've had with you. And I love you." The last bit was said very softly. He wasn't sure she heard him. He hoped she hadn't. 

He vaguely heard his glass tumble to the carpeted floor. 

She sat up, still straddling him. She swallowed from the bottle. "Shhh… maybe I've been wanting you for a long time." She reached behind herself and there was the sound of a zipper pulling apart. She pulled off her dress in one smooth motion. Her skin as white as snow glowed in the faint lights breaking the dark. She was wearing black underwear that stood out starkly on her skin as white as snow. "Maybe, when we've worked late at night, I thought about this." She put down the bottle. "Maybe I've thought about making love to you on my desk when you bring me a cup of coffee the way I like it. Maybe I've thought about you on this couch inside me while you had your mouth on my skin. I won't give you frostbite. I promise." 

She leaned over him and brushed her silk clad breasts against him. She told him what she wanted. He wanted it too. He kissed her through the silk. She made a little noise in her throat. She reached behind herself and her bra came loose and was gone. He kissed what he could reach. Rewarded by the feel of her skin and the sounds that she made.

Her fingernails scratched over him. He whispered. "I've never. I mean. You're the first." It seemed important that she should know that.

"My Hunt." She pulled down his zipper and pulled him free. He was hot in her cool hand. Her lips as red as blood curved black in the dark. She stepped out of her lacy panties. He lay there, frozen. He was certain that if he moved, he'd wake up. 

She straddled him again. She teased him just inside her. He bucked up and was rewarded with a, "Mmm." But she put one hand on his belly. He lay still then waiting. He could feel her pressing against him. He whispered in that dark safe space, "I never. Oh. You're so hot."

"That's right." She shifted her hips. "You think I'm hot. Not cold at all." Her expression was intent. "Not all Frost giants are cold. We also burn." 

She reached up and undid her tight bun. Her hair as black as coal fell in a wavy cloud. She shook it out. She lifted her hand away. He bucked up again and was rewarded with a, "Oh... good." He did it again. 

He slid his hands onto her hips, but she moved them up to her breasts. They were soft in his hands. He was careful. He didn't want his callouses to scratch her skin. He paid attention to the noises that she made. To what pleased her. It felt so good, but he'd never done this before. He wanted to be sure he did this right for her. As he pushed up into her downward motion, she'd tell him, "Good." The couch creaked softly under them. 

It was a dream. It was real. It went faster and faster. She keened a long low cry and squeezed in long rippling tremors. He pushed up into that squeeze. She gripped the back of the couch for balance and cried out again. He pulsed inside her helplessly. She rocked him through it. "Shh... it's alright." 

As she wiped at his face with her fingers, he realized that he was crying.

She got off of him. He whined slightly, ashamed as soon as the sound left his throat. She patted him. "I'll be back." She picked up a champagne bottle and took a long swallow. She went out into the outer office. She returned a little later with a wet paper towel. It was warm. She cleaned him up. She held him. 

He nuzzled against her breasts and was rewarded with, "Mmm." 

His eyes were closed, so he could ask, "Have you really thought about me? Like that? Before?" He couldn't breathe for fear of her answer.

She drank from the bottle and kissed his forehead. "The moment I first saw you, I felt the thorn of desire prick me. Ironic under the circumstances. I wanted to crush that pimple harassing you and drag you back to my lair. To this office." A soft kiss. "To this couch." Her mouth tasted like evergreens.

He asked in a very small voice, "Is that why you hired me?"

She brushed her fingers through his hair. "No. You had excellent reviews and I knew I needed someone who would blunt my blizzards." Her fingers trailed down his cheek. "Then it was one more barrier between what I wanted." Her fingers brushed down his neck. "And you're so very. And I. Chill winds bode ill for fragile blooms." She took another swallow of champagne. "On paper, Prince appeared to make so much more sense."

He didn't really want to hear about Prince. He snuggled against her. Kissing her. Tentatively, slowly, so she could stop him if she wanted, he slid a hand down her. He dared to look up. She was smiling at him. He slid his fingers as she whispered soft directions and cries when he did well. 

He felt warm as if he were a golden bubble glowing in the forest. Everything slowed to soft movements in the dark. She wrapped her arms around him. Wrapped up by her, he felt safe. Cared for. Moving in the dark. 

They slipped into sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

He woke to see, he couldn't call her Snow, and he couldn't call her Ms. White, sitting on the far side of the room holding herself. She was wearing the sweat stained exercise clothes that she kept in a bag at her desk. She must have thought they made her look plain. She could never be plain to him. 

She said, "I'm very sorry about what happened last night. I wasn't myself and I didn't mean to take advantage of a subordinate in that way. Please accept my sincerest apologies and if you wish to bring an HR complaint, my report will correspond with yours."

Of course not. He understood. "No. I don't want to file a complaint." He dressed slowly. 

He went home. He went to Lil' Red's. He carved a broken heart with his axe. Lil' Red said, "What she got groinal with you? But I thought she was engaged."

"She was. She wasn't. It was. It shouldn't have happened." He cut another crack into the heart.

"Right. Ripple fudge it is then." Lil' Red went inside to get the ice cream.

He went to work on Monday. It was awkward to say the least. Ms. White, he had to think of her as Ms. White, kept looking at him and looking away. Sometimes, when she'd come over to his desk, she'd lean over his shoulder. It was all he could do not to turn around and lean into her. It was a hundred times worse than before.

He didn't know how he could take it. But he couldn't think of leaving her.

Worst of all, after a couple weeks of slow strain, they were supposed to attend the annual Mineralogical Conference in the Gold Mountains. He and Ms. White were supposed to go represent Tyrolean Mining. 

All he could think about was what had happened. He didn't know how he could be alone with her and not say something.

He told himself that he could be professional about this. He enjoyed his job. Which was a lie. He enjoyed being with Ms. White. His job was how he did that.

But he could keep his distance. When they caught the flying horse carriage there, Ms. White said, "There's something I'd like to talk to you about. While we're away. A sort of proposal. Regarding the other night."

He nodded. "I understand it was a one time thing. I understand that you've pulled your thorn. I won't presume."

She flushed a bright red. He'd never seen her do that. She looked away. After they arrived, she seemed about to say something when they checked in, but she didn't. 

He made it through half of the first day staring at her, before he thought to himself, "Maybe, I could make her want me again, if I changed. Just for a little while. While we were away from home. Maybe I could be different here."

He went down to the hotel salon and said, "I need you to change me. Make it so someone would want you."

"You want to look hotter that you currently do. Okay." The receptionist looked at one of the stylists. 

She said, "Well, we can certainly get you out of that sad sack look you got going."

They styled his hair. They threw away his glasses. They pumiced him. They exfoliated. Sherlene, the stylist, dragged him down to the shops to get some clothes that, "Weren't worn by a dead hobo. And he died cuz his clothes were so sad."

He emerged in time for that evening's reception feeling pretty good for once. The moment he walked in the door, instead of being invisible, people paid him attention. Important people brought him glasses of wine and wanted to talk to him. It was actually a little intimidating. They weren't the ones he wanted paying him attention. He blushed and refused the drinks.

On the far side of the room, he saw Ms. White. She wasn't wearing one of her regular high necked black dresses. This dress was deep red. This dress was cut low in the front and even lower in the back. The red fabric draped and clung to her. She towered over everyone in the room. The only person worth looking at.

Suddenly, he doubted himself. He turned away. 

Eve Queen, the head of Queen Industries, handed him a drink. He didn't drink from it. He didn't want to embarrass himself. She made him nervous. She had her hand on his arm. "I could always use more creative employees such as yourself."

Ms. White appeared from nowhere and retook his arm from Ms. Queen. "He's taken."

Ms. Queen smiled. "You never did know how to take care of your toys. Poor rich girl." Her lips were redder than blood. They were old blood.

Ms. White tugged him out of the room. "What do you think you're doing?" She looked incredible in red. He did not stare at her perfect breasts looking perfect in her perfect dress. 

He looked at the floor. "I wanted you to notice me. I'm sorry." 

"By trying to make me jealous? With Eve." She was breathing rapidly, the clinging red fabric rising and falling. "It's working. I didn't like seeing you with her. I don't trust her with you." She grabbed his tie. "She can't have you. I came here this weekend to finally ease the thorns that grip at me. They cut and snag from a thousand hooks at my flesh." She kissed him, pressing him up against the wall of the elevator. She rested her face against his. "That night only drove the thorns further into me. I haven't been able to stop thinking about that night. About you. Tell me you've thought about it."

He whispered broken into her mouth. "I can't think of anything else. Yes. Please, Ms. White. Yes." He didn't even know what exactly he was agreeing to. Only that he wanted it.

"I think it's time you called me Snow." She pulled him into her room. The painstakingly acquired clothes were thrown aside. This time, they were in full light. This time, he could see everything as they tumbled back onto the bed. She fumbled a condom from somewhere and rolled it on him. He hadn't even thought of condoms. She pulled him on top of her. She wrapped her long legs around him and met his movements with her own. He wanted this feeling to go on forever. But it didn't. 

He came down to earth and waited for her to tell him it was a mistake.

She didn't. She rubbed a hand in circles on his sweat slick back. She whispered, "That was perfect." He smiled at her and received a glowing smile in return. He felt so full, he had to turn his face into the pillow to keep from flying apart.

She kept smoothing her hands over him. He felt her trace the scars on his back. "How did you get these?"

He mumbled into his pillow. He couldn't look at her just then. "Growing up. At the Kinderhaus. Mr. Myrsina, he, sometimes, when I was unseemly." 

She traced the arches of his feet. The lines of his burn scars. "And these?" 

He nodded into the pillow. Not sure if he could say anything. She kissed every scar. "How could anyone who had you treat you like that? You're worth so much more. You're precious." It was fortunate she wasn't really asking a question. He didn't have any answers. He lay there as she kissed and caressed every mark. 

By the time she had touched them all and rolled him onto his side to lie next to him, he was embarrassingly hard again. She touched him. "You want me again already don't you?"

He nodded unable to meet her sharp seeing eyes. She tilted his head up and kissed him softly. "Look at me. You make me feel beautiful. You make me feel like I've been asleep and I've woken up." She slid her leg over his hips. There was a crinkle of foil. She reached down and rolled a condom onto him. "If you were mine, I'd take such excellent care of you." She flexed her hips against him. "Are you mine? Do you want me to take care of you?" 

He breathed in. "Yes." His head was resting on her long hair as black as coal. "I belong to you." He shook inside her. She held him as he trembled. Afterwards, she rubbed him down with a clean cloth. She held him in her arms. She told him he was beautiful. She told him he was sweet. He didn't beg her to love him. It was a near thing.

It was good that he didn't.

Later, in the Jacuzzi tub, her feet braced against the tile wall, she whispered as he slowly slid between her legs, "This was more than I'd hoped for. I almost think I can feel the thorns easing from me. Pushed through me to the other side." The water was warm around them. It lapped against the sides of the tub in time to their motion. He didn't really think he could take her talking just then.

He sped up his rhythm until her words were "Perfect," and "Yes."

They didn't make it to the rest of the conference.

She'd brought six condoms.

She hadn't brought enough.


	6. Chapter 6

They flew home in silence. He understood that the conference was a place apart. That when they went back, it was over.

The girls in the secretarial pool kidded him about his new suits, lack of glasses, and new haircut. "Trying to catch the boss's eye? That's looking for a good case of frostbite right there."

He flushed and moved to push up glasses that weren't there. 

Snow could hardly look at him. After the conference, he certainly couldn't call her Ms. White anymore. But he had to. Or everyone would know.

He went over to Lil' Red's after work. She rubbed her eyes. "So let me get this straight, Honey Bunny. You went at it like rabbits in heat for four days and what, it's back to normal? Wow, she really is an ice queen. Seriously, Hunt, even for you, this is not healthy."

He didn't care about healthy. Hunt polished the cracks in his broken heart carving. The heart gleamed. 

He took it home with him. He couldn't let Lil' Red sell it in her shop. Not his heart.

He went to the Wishing well. He gave it coins. He made his wish.

He went to work on Monday. He thought about what he had to say. At six o'clock, he turned off his computer. He went into Snow's office. He addressed the pine tree outside her window. "Ms. White, I've been thinking. I know you're not looking for a new relationship right now. So, I wouldn't expect anything from you. But I thought maybe, if you'd like, we could, maybe. After work, maybe I could call you Snow then. If you were interested? If maybe those thorns ever maybe. If you needed my help with them." The pine tree out the window said nothing. Ms. White was silent for a moment. He could hear her chair creak.

"I think that is an excellent idea, Hunt." Snow said very softly. "I believe that I feel the sting of those thorns even now. Go lock the door. Not the door to my office, but the door into the outer office. And then come back here."

He locked the outer door. He came back into her office. He closed that door too. He brought the box of condoms that he'd purchased with him. 

She pushed him up onto the desk. "Here, you should rest your poor feet." They scattered papers on the floor like so much snow.

The next night at six o'clock, Snow came into his office. "Hunt, please lock the door if you would." 

He locked the door. 

By Wednesday, he stopped working at five. He went into their bathroom and took off his underwear. He waited for six. 

When he went into Snow's office and she moved his hands up her legs, he discovered that she wasn't wearing any underwear either.

By Friday, neither of them wanted to leave. They spent hours on the couch just kissing afterwards. Hunt understood that this was just for weekdays. This was just a rebound thing. A thorn in her side. 

Saturday was miserable. Sunday was miserable. Monday was miserable. The day stretched out infinitely. 

At eleven fifty in the morning, Snow called him into her office. "Hunt," she licked her lips as red as blood, "I'm afraid that we're going to have to work through lunch. I need your help with a thorn. Would that be a problem?" He shook his head no. "Then go lock the outer door. We don't want to be disturbed."

After that, they had to work through lunch several times.

He didn't tell Lil' Red. She'd tell him that it was wrong. Every time Snow told him he was perfect, he knew he'd made the right decision. He knew it again when Lil' Red asked, "Honey Bunny, what's got you smiling so happy? You look as pleased as a pig in a pile of crap." He studied the ground. He didn't tell her. He didn't tell Lil' Red everything.

Still, by the next Friday, he wasn't sure how he'd be able to survive the weekend. 

He was so distracted throughout the day that he made several mistakes that had him silently cursing himself as an utter stupid, moron for failing Ms. White - during the day she had to be Ms. White. Over the course of the day, the line between her eyebrows got deeper and deeper. 

Finally, she reread the durilium feasibility study that he'd prepared for her and winced. "I think that perhaps mixing business and other things in this way has been perhaps unwise."

Hunt's heart pounded in his chest. "I'm sorry. I can do better. I can retype it." He gripped his hands together until the knuckles were white. "I'll do whatever it takes. I can do better about not letting the other things interfere. Please, Ms. White let me try."

Snow closed her eyes. "Hunt, you are somewhat of a terror." She stood up and briefly glanced at the open doors. "I merely meant that perhaps the venue should change, but looking at you, I can see I would not be able to keep to such a resolution." Another sidelong glance at the open door and the hallway beyond. "I have an additional project that I would like your assistance on. Entire thickets of tangled thorns that I need help with plucking. Do you think you could come over to my house on Sunday? I don't want to take up your whole weekend."

Relief like soft petaled blooms opened up inside of him. "Yes, Ms. White. I could do that." He chewed his lip then. "Does that mean that that project has to wait until Sunday." He swallowed. "I'd really like an opportunity to work on it this evening, if you'd like me to. If there's a thorn bothering you. I'd really like another opportunity to show you I can do better."

The faint sunray smile flickered over her face. "As I said, a terror." She glanced back at the open door. "Let's put a pin in this discussion until later, shall we."

He swallowed. "Yes, Ms. White."

He retyped the report and made sure it was perfect before he resent it to her. After six, he demonstrated how sorry he was for messing up by kneeling in front of her until she was well satisfied he wouldn't make that mistake again.

Saturday went on forever. He didn't dare carve anything. That's how limbs were lost.

On Sunday, he went to her house at 8am sharp. The place was more of a castle than anything else. She looked up at it. "I know, a little ridiculous for one person." She awkwardly offered him a drink. He shook his head.

She picked up a brightly colored package. "Here, I got you something." He stared at the colorful shape. It wasn't Christmas or his birthday. He looked up at her. She held it out to him. "No special occasion. It's just, please don't leave me holding it."

He carefully unwrapped it. He wanted to savor the moment. There was a fluffy blue robe inside. He buried his face in it. It was soft. Softer than anything he'd ever owned. Finally, he pulled him face away from it and clutched tightly to his chest. "Thank you."

She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, but that would require him to let go of his gift. She whispered against his cheek. "Let's go to the bedroom and try it on."

It felt wonderfully soft. The entire day was wonderful. 

She spent hours in bed lazily talking to him about places she'd been. Things she'd seen. He talked about what he would like to see. All while she took such wonderful care of him. 

At the end of that wonderful day, he hung up his robe in her bathroom. He petted it briefly before he went home to his empty apartment full of carvings.

He curled up and waited for the morning.

She took him out to lunch the next week. "We can't always be working through lunch, Hunt." She smiled at him and told him to pick whatever he wanted.

She gave him another package the next Sunday. He opened it just as carefully. It was a small painting of oak branches against a blue sky. She said, "I saw it after the meeting with the board. It made me think of you."

He took it home and hung it in his bedroom over his bed.

Next came soft slippers with thick padding. Padded ankle braces. A place for some toiletries in her bathroom. After she asked him if it was convenient for him to come over that Saturday evening so they could get an early start. "They grow fast, do thickets of thorns. It will take vigorous action to root them out." 

They ate takeout - Snow said her cooking amounted to boiling water - and watched a movie he couldn't remember later from her couch. 

In the morning, he blinked sleepily at her when she brought him breakfast in bed - a slice of toast and some orange juice - and the newspaper. It was folded open to page three. The article at the top of the page announced that Edvard Myrsina and seven other personnel at Kinderhaus had been arrested for child endangerment. He blinked up at her from the soft white folds of her bed and couldn't remember when he'd been so happy. She brushed her fingers through his hair. "I'd have ripped his heart out and eaten it for you if it were legal." She kissed him, which led to other things.

Weeks rolled by. One month. Two months. They spent at least one day every weekend together. Never both. Always a miserable wait through a long miserable day. Sometimes she asked him to get an early start tackling thickets of thorns on Saturday night, but not always.

But those lazy Sundays were the best. He often wore nothing but his soft robe and his soft slippers and curled up next to where she was while they talked. She told him he was perfect. That he made her feel awake for the first time. 

He did his best to be perfect. He sometimes failed. Sometimes, when things went from lazy to wonderful, he forgot the condom, which was stupid of him. But she didn't frown at him with that line between her eyebrows. So he thought he must not be doing too badly. He always tried better the next time.

They always went to her place. They never met in his. He looked at the walls lined with Snow White's face. Her body. Their bodies. If she visited his apartment, she'd know.

He couldn't allow that to happen. She was so good and kind. She'd stop to save his feelings.

He didn't want it to be over. He wanted to lie in Snow's soft white bed and be safely held while they talked about nothing and everything.


	7. Chapter 7

One Friday, he went home to his empty apartment. He and Snow hadn't made plans to meet until Sunday. He could wait for a day. Saturday was horrible as usual.

He sat at home. Wishing it were Sunday. He almost went to the Wishing well.

His doorbell chimed. He briefly hoped, feared, it would be Snow.

He opened the door, but it wasn't Snow at the door. 

Eve Queen stood there holding a basket of red apples. She held it up. "They're from a new genetically engineered line my science wizards have been whipping up."

She walked past him. She put the basket on the table. She smiled at the walls crowded with his carvings. She examined each one closely in turn. He felt sick having her there. Looking at the flow of wood. "My what lovely art you have here." Her left hand brushed the curve of Snow's cheek on the wall. He wanted to push her away from it. 

He supported himself with the wall. "What do you want?" His feet ached already from standing. He'd rushed so fast to the door, he'd left his cane behind. He had no idea how long he'd been standing there, watching her violate his home.

"Just to talk." Eve sat on his bare beam couch and crossed her legs. "You seem like a nice boy. Not too bright, but you apparently have amazing stamina." Her teeth bit down slightly on her lower lip. She looked at him. He crossed his arms and wouldn't meet her eyes. That didn't stop her from continuing. "So naturally, I'm happy that my dear Snow White has finally found someone to fill that empty space inside of her." She slid her hands along his heart on both sides of the largest crack. "But I do wonder how long people will think of her as the fairest when they find that she's screwing her staff? I wonder how long she'll keep her job after that?"

Hunt wanted to protest. He couldn't help the words that came out, "How do you…"

"Oh, sweetie, the only reason no one has suspected is because my little Snow is somewhat famously frigid. But you've cured her of all that with your magic member." She spread her hands wide. "Isn't it wonderful."

He swallowed. "What do you want?"

"Direct. Cuts to the chase. I like that." She tapped the top of the heart. "I want to be the fairest in the land. I want you to come work for me with all the things that you know. I know you have it in you. Your parents had that same drive. They were quite helpful as I worked my way into marrying Snow's father. Into acquiring controlling shares in the Winter Corporation. Now just another subsidiary of Queen Industries." His stomach churned. He'd had no idea that Eve Queen was Snow White's stepmother. No wonder she'd been so angry at the conference, and his parents. He didn't even know what to think. She was still smiling at him. "Well, until they became just a little too greedy. They really did want the best for you."

He stared at her.

"You didn't actually think that they were eaten by wild wolves did you? There haven't been wolves in those woods for centuries." She shrugged. Her hands wandered over his heart.

She rested her chin on the top of it. "Either way, I'm going to destroy our Snow. One way, I'll just destroy her company. The other I'll tell her that her plaything's parents helped destroy her dearest daddy's life. Right before I destroy her reputation to the world."

"Think about it." She put a business card on the top curve of the heart. "You're quite the artist by the way. Snow must be so proud."

All he could think was that Snow couldn't know.


	8. Chapter 8

Snow called to cancel Sunday. She had something she needed to do. That was fine. He couldn't think. He needed to think.

He was still in a daze on Monday. 

The whole day went by in a blur. Ms. White sent him off for most of the day running errands, for which he was grateful. But it wasn't like her. Generally, she tried not to make him walk too much. He pushed down with his cane into the floor, but that didn't give him any ideas.

At six o'clock, Snow came out. "Please join me in my office." He locked the outer door. He dreaded the turning of that latch. For the first time, he didn't want to go into her office.

When he came in, Snow was wearing the same gray high necked suit she'd been wearing all day. She waved to the chair on the other side of the desk. He noticed that the carvings that he had given her were gone. In their place was the sparkle of frost glittering on her desk.

He sat down.

She said, "When you emailed me on Saturday, I thought that you were making the next move. That you wanted me to show me your art work. Reveal all the things that you hide when you look away from me. Foolish me." He swallowed. She smiled a blizzard at him. Ice spread across the windows. "Did you get your timing wrong? I was bit early in my eagerness. Imagine my surprise when I saw my dear stepmother walk into your apartment with her typical fruit basket. I waited as she stayed inside for a full thirty minutes. I had no idea you could service her that quickly. Generally, you give me the full hour." She leaned across the desk, spitting ice. "I trusted you and this is how you pay me back. How long has this been going on? Since the conference? Earlier? Has this all been act?" Her hands slapped down on the desktop. "Well. Say something!"

He jumped back at the cold snap of her tone. He felt every part of him that had slowly opened up, squeeze shut. He hadn't thought she could be like this with him. The winter's gale everyone had said she was. He couldn't be here when she was like this. "I need to leave."

She came around the desk. "To go to her? Is that it?"

"No." He looked at the floor. At anywhere away from the storm in front of him. If he didn't meet her eyes, maybe he'd be safe. 

"Then why?" It wasn't a kiss that she gave him. It was too angry for that. Cold. He felt the skin of his lips crack.

"I didn't email you." He closed his eyes so he didn't have to see. He shook his head against that not kiss. Against his tightening skin at her chill touch.

"Why did you meet her?" More not kisses. He didn't even have words. He could only show her with his actions. He opened himself up to her not kisses.

They had sex after all. But it felt like goodbye. A field of thorns blasted by snow. Bluebirds migrated onto warmer lands.

Afterwards, she left him. He went home. He packed up his heart. He left it at the gate in front of her house with his resignation. His heart, as it happened, was too heavy to throw over the fence. 

He did the only thing he could think to do. He went to Lil' Red's. She took one look at him and pulled him inside. She wrapped him in a soft blanket and gave him a tub of fudge ripple to eat. Then she waited. Lil' Red had had practice over the years.

Half way through the tub, he told her everything. "Oh, Honey Bunny. You deserve so much better than that." She stood up. "Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to put on 'the Muppet Movie'. " We're going to sing along to the Moving Right along section. I'm going to give you the keys to Gran's cabin in the woods. You'll mope. You'll brood like a mother. And on the weekend, I'll come up and we can figure out what you can do next."

That's what they did.


	9. Chapter 9

The week was good for him.

He didn't feel any better, but he'd come to the conclusion that if Snow could react like that after promising to treat him well, then wasn't sure if he should trust her with himself. That was his conclusion. The rest of him longed to lay himself down at her gate. Promise to do better. To try harder. To make up for his parent's sins. For his own sins.

He reminded himself that Snow could not be trusted. He reminded himself that he hadn't done anything wrong.

He carved an eagle. It was poised in flight. He lingered on the talons. He reminded himself that they cut.

If he stayed out here, he could earn enough to live on. He could work outdoors like he'd always wanted. Sitting on a bench. Resting his feet. Carving. He didn't really need Snow. He knew that was a lie, but Lil' Red had always told him that a little lying to yourself was good. Generally in association with ice cream and chocolate, but still. He would take what advice he could get.

He waited for the week to go by.

On Friday, he heard a sled pull up the long dirt road. It wasn't Lil' Red's beat up VW. It was sharp and shiny and silver. He knew that sled.

Snow got out. She had a small carry on suitcase. She had a black eye.

He stood on the porch holding his small hatchet, not quite sure where he should hide it. Holding himself back from limping down to her.

She said, "I got your heart."

He darted a glance at her to see if she was safe to look at. "I left it for you."

She put her hands in her pockets. "And I got your resignation."

He looked at the eagle. It looked sad. "I left that too."

"Your friend, Little Miss Riding Hood, came to see me." He looked up then, startled.

He said very slowly, "Why do you have a black eye?"

"I said your friend came to see me and explained everything. After she stood on a chair and punched me for, and I quote, "Treating Honey Bunny like roadkill." She sighed. "She ripped me up one side and then down the other. I can't say that I didn't deserve it." She let go of her suitcase. She stepped up onto the porch. "She took me to your place. It's, well, how much you love me. I didn't know you saw me like that. That anyone could." 

He ventured a glance at her. Her hair was down and she looked, she looked soft as new fallen snow. The kind that came in large fluffy flakes. The tension in his shoulders eased with her there. He shouldn't. He should not trust her. He whispered, "You didn't take excellent care of me. I trusted you to treat me well. You didn't trust me."

She said, "It's not an excuse. But I was so angry because I was jealous. Because it was Eve. I shouldn't have been. I should have trusted you after all these years. I realized later that you weren't the one that sent me that email." She took the hatchet out of his hand and laid it with the rest of his tools. She wrapped her hands around his and knelt in front of him looking up. "I should have realized that the thorns that grew within me were not just desire, but wild roses seeking to bloom. Not fragile blooms, but stubbornly bred to withstand the winter." She kissed his hands. "I should have treated you better from the beginning. It's no excuse that I was poisoned with jealousy. Fears. That I was asleep until I met you. But that's done. The roses are in bloom. I love you. Please say that you will share them with me. That I have not trampled you in my thrashing about."

He shook. "Shh..." She wrapped her arms around him. "It's okay." She said into his neck. "Will you forgive me for treating you not at all like you should be? I'm so sorry."

He nodded yes. Not trusting himself to talk. 

She kissed him and when he stopped shaking, she took him inside to examine how big the bed was. 

It was quite large.

It was only later, much later, as he lay tangled with her that he realized something. "We forgot to use a condom. I'm sorry. I promise, I'll do better next time."

"It's far too late to worry about that." She rubbed against him and dropped a lazy string of kisses across his chest. "That was the other reason I was so glad you emailed me. Why I rushed over that day. I didn't want to wait until Sunday to tell you. I'm pregnant."

Hunt didn't know what to say. "But we've used condoms almost every time."

She kissed his forehead. "Oh, Sweetheart, it only takes once. We didn't the first time, which I rather suspect is when it happened. Then there were times seven through seventeen at the conference." She stroked her fingers through his hair. "There were the three times we broke the condom." She kissed his collarbone. "The time in the shower." Another kiss. "The time in the hot tub." Her fingers moved lightly up and down him. "That Sunday when you smiled at me with all the trust in the world all wrapped up in my sheets and I just to have you because you're mine." She squeezed him softly and he moved against her restlessly. Unsure what he should hope for. "I have been, perhaps, more than a little reckless. And we have had an inordinate amount of unprotected sex. It would seem you rang my biological clock." She kissed him and stroked him. "It only takes the one time. But I certainly enjoyed all the others."

He tried to think as she trailed kisses. Still he had to know. "Do you want it?" He wanted her to want it, but it was hard to believe even now that she would. She kissed him until he shifted against the sheets. She laughed against him. He gave into her laughter.

She worked her way back up her trail of kisses. "Do I want morning sickness and fat ankles and hormonal changes? Not really." His heart sank like the stones in the kitten sack. 

"But I've been thinking." She lay on top of him as she liked to do. He kissed her skin as white as snow the way she liked. The way he liked. "As much as I'd hate to lose you at the office, clearly it's a conflict of interest to have you working for me." She rocked back and forth. "It's a complete HR violation." She tilted his face up to look into her eyes blue and white as glacial ice. "So, I'll accept your resignation, if you'll accept my proposal to marry me." He whimpered as she moved. "I realize that asking at this time is completely," she teased him with her warmth, "unfair." He cried out. "I may be the fairest in the land," she pushed down slightly, "but I do run a Corporation. I can be ruthless if I have to be. Say yes." As if he could have conceived of a word like no just then. "Say yes right now."

"Yes," he gasped out with his quickened breath. 

Her hair as black as coal brushed against his face. "Say that you'll be the stay at home father to our children. Say yes." 

All he could do was cry out. "Yes."

"Say that when I come home, I can call out, 'Sweetheart, I'm home,' and we'll have a nanny so I can drag you off and make slow," her lips as red as blood kissed him, "sweet love to my husband."

"Yes," he whispered into her skin and hair and lips. 

"I am going to take such excellent care of you." She rolled them over on the wide bed. 

He gave her everything. "Yes."

Afterwards, she whispered, "I'm holding you to all of that you know."

He mumbled, "Yes," and snuggled safe under her arm. He didn't tell her that those were all the things he'd hoped she say as he wished at the Wishing well.


	10. Epilogue

Three years, five months and three days later, Eve Queen had been convicted of eleven counts of murder by magically engineered wolf pack. A nonuple life sentence. 

Hunt read to their children about it from the paper. 

Two years and four months before that conviction, Snow had given birth to a girl with hair as black as coal, Lil' Snow. Eleven months after that, Snow had given birth to Rose Red, a little girl with hair as red as a briar rose. Snow told him she was closing down her factory to avoid perfectly avoidable accidents after that. 

Hunt blushed when she told him that was their plan.

He was frantically in love with both of his baby girls. Snow said that she was reserving judgement until they could talk, but he'd seen her float snowflakes for them when she thought no one was looking. Ms. Dragon, their nanny, guarded them like little treasures.

He didn't spend all his time with them. He spent a few days a week at Lil' Reds carving in the sunshine. He made carvings out front and talked to people about wood. He also somehow ended up at the board at Kinderhaus. When he told Snow that he wasn't qualified, she kissed him and said, "We grow into our qualifications." 

Snow was in fact very fond of dropping her laptop case in the front foyer of their castle shaped house. She'd drop her keys in the hollow in his heart, next to the wild roses they'd planted in the cracks.

She did call out, "Sweetheart, I'm home." She'd look in on the babies. When they were sleeping, she said hello to Ms. Dragon. Then she dragged Hunt off to her lair to help her pluck thorns. A process that would never be finished. 

Wild roses growing as they did.

**Author's Note:**

> If after reading my fiction here, you would like to read more about me and my writing check out my profile.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] The Tyrolean CEO's Virgin Secretary](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11015898) by [annapods](https://archiveofourown.org/users/annapods/pseuds/annapods)




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